Tailwhipped
by TheSwingOfThings
Summary: I'm not sure how it happened, but I went to sleep in a bed and woke up in a forest. What's worse, my entire team, which I spent years raising, is nowhere to be seen. I'm completely alone and helpless for the first time in years, I have no idea where I am, and I'm still in my pajamas. Based on the Ninetales' curse. Tentatively rated teen for later content. May contain AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: An Innocent Mistake**

The phone was ringing. The phone on the other end of my bedroom was ringing. The phone on the other end of my bedroom was ringing at three in the morning. _Very loudly _.

Grumbling, I heaved myself up from the enticing warmth of my pillow, crawled over Simon's sleeping form, and shambled over to the phone. I had almost made it to my desk when I stepped on a rug I couldn't remember buying.

Comet shot awake with a piercing yowl, flames curling under his teeth, and ran out from under me. Not a rug. Comet was sleeping on the floor. Since when did Comet sleep on the floor?

The indecision over whether to first apologize to my injured ninetales or answer the bleeping phone made the sound-induced pressure headache I was already nursing get even worse. Comet, no longer yowling but glowing vaguely with anger and what looked like and impending ember attack, was standing in the corner of my bedroom, tailed flared.

"Fine, I'll answer the phone first," I slurred to Comet, and picked up the phone.

An all-too-peppy voice on the other end chirped "Is this Hester Thompson?"

An all-too-tired me moaned "Yeeess."

"We have your first shipment ready," Chirpy chirped chirpily. "They're all from Route 102, and have all passed their health exams. You can pick them up whenever you're ready."

"Great. Thanks." I spat, and slapped the phone down. I hadn't even started, and I already hated my job. Disturbing me at three in the morning to tell me the exact minute my new charges had arrived, what was the benefit of this? They had all the information they needed to know that no one in my team could teleport, did they really expect me to ride Ricky over there and start training before the sun had even risen? No. Just no.

The mental ranting had woken me up a bit, and in my newfound consciousness I remembered having stepped on the tails of a certain very easily offended ninetales. Comet was still spark-pouting in the corner, so I tottered over to the shelf where I kept the Comet-apology treats and fumbled among books and knick knacks until my hands touched the box. I rolled the numbers 7, 4, 3, and 8 into place, and pulled out one of Comet's favorite flavor of treat. After scrambling the combination twice, I put the box back and placed the treat a few feet in front of my smoldering pokemon. Once the scent of persim and cheri hit his nostrils, the beef he'd had with me was forgotten and the treat devoured.

I couldn't help but smile a bit. Comet had a habit of making gluttony look adorable. "Try not to lick the floor too much, the varnish is bad for you." I smirked. Comet, who had been doing just that, looked up at me and grinned wolfishly.

"Who say!"

"It'll make your stomach hurt, and you might throw up that tasty treat of yours. And," I added, "if you puke it out, I'm not letting you eat it again, so don't get any ideas."

Comet cocked his head to deliberate on whether he felt like listening to his trainer. He seemed to agree this time, and with a graceful leap that was impressively quiet for his size, jumped on the spot where I'd spent the last few hours cultivating the perfect bed groove temperature, lay down, and closed his eyes.

Fine then. I guess I'm sleeping in the middle again.

As I crawled into bed and drifted back to sleep, I wondered if Comet would consider moving his sleeping space to the floor permanently. My bed had been feeling kind of crowded lately.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: An Unintentional Overreaction**

I'd forgotten how uncomfortable sleeping is my bed could be. It was like lying on a pile of pine branches that still had their needles. Maybe Comet had the right idea by sleeping on the floor. Just about anything would be more comfortable than this. I was almost looking forward to Sole waking me up with her breakfast song. Which, my tired mind reasoned, should be any minute now.

Any.

Minute.

Now.

I rolled over in the hopes that when the breakfast song hit, at least one of my ears would be covered. And then I rolled onto a particularly sharp pine cone and jolted awake.

I was in the middle of a forest. I had no idea how I got there, or even where "there" was. And I was still in my pajamas.

"Simon, can you climb up to the treetops and find out where we are?" I called. I couldn't see Simon anywhere, he was probably already frolicking in the pines. Usually he at least stayed within earshot though. I couldn't hear him respond.

"Comet, I already gave you your treat, you can stop sulking!" He didn't say anything, nor did he use his psychic abilities to let me know he was still mad.

Simon probably went too far away by accident, and Comet was probably holding a grudge in the hope of getting more treats, but Liza was very responsible. She'd come if I called her.

"Liza!" I tried to sound happy so she wouldn't worry, "Come on, we've got to get back home!" Nothing. Not even the sound of her footsteps coming closer.

Simon, Comet, even Liza weren't responding. I was starting to breathe heavily, and my ears were beginning to ring.

"Ricky, come over here, let's get your saddle on!" My voice was starting to crack and tremble.

"Jito, I know you can walk on land, get out of whatever creek you found and come back here!" I barely realized I was yelling.

"Sole," I choked, eyes burning with impending tears, "Please. Come here. You can't have gotten very far."

Not even Sole, the slowest member of my team who barely moved faster than a Torkoal, was within sight. And none of them were responding. I was beginning to think I was alone.

Alone in I-don't-know-where, without my team, without anything to survive, without my team, without a phone or radio, without my team, without my team without my team without my team withoutmyteamwithoutmyteamwithoutmyteam.

Without Simon.

I was gasping. It felt like I could barely see even though my eyes were open. I was aware of the rocks and trees in front of me, but they didn't feel real, even when I walked into them. And all I could hear was that desperate ringing. Then my vision started to shake into dizzying brown pyramid shapes, and everything felt like static.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: An Underwhelming Breakfast**

I became vaguely aware that part of my arm was indenting itself in a slow, rhythmic fashion.

It felt nice.

Everything was buzzing, and I couldn't tell if that was normal or not. Pink and green blotches were dancing over my eyes in a twitching, rounded fashion.

The indenting continued, and I gradually began to feel that I was being prodded, not imploding as I'd initially suspected. I squeezed my eyes, which I think I'd forgotten how to do, and began to slowly roll toward the arm that was being poked. I could feel slight pinches on my head and ankles as I rolled, which became smaller and smaller until they were sharp. The poking stopped. I vaguely remembered that opening my eyes was something I could do, and creaked each eyelid open to a squint.

There was a brownish curve in between two slices of blue.

I opened them a bit wider. The brownish curve was actually yellow, attached to a lumpy red rock, and staring at me. It blinked.

I blinked back, and felt the dizziness begin to slip off.

It occurred to me that I had probably fainted.

The yellow thing was still looking at me. _It's a shuckle_, I thought. _That's new._

_Shuckle are nice. They're yellow. I like green more though._ _Like Simon_.

Realization hit and I could remember again.

_Simon! _

My body jerked awake.

_Where's Simon! _

My eyes shot open.

_ Simon!_

I sat up and almost fell back down again when the sudden movement reminded me of how dizzy I was. Everyone was gone. I'd only been separated from my pokemon one at a time, for a few days at the most, and I'd always known exactly where they were.

I'd also always known approximately where I was, for that matter.

"Slerp."

The shuckle was still there, staring up at me with no discernible emotion.

"I'm sorry," I replied, clutching my muddled head, "I understand some bug and some rock, but not very well, and never at the same time. Could you say that again slower?"

"Sle ep." the shuckle said, droning slightly. "You sle ep."

Oh dear, now was this bug rules or rock rules? Bug types rarely used tenses other than the present. Rock types, on the other hand, seemed to greatly prefer using the past tense.

"Should I sleep," I tried to speak slowly, "Or are you saying I was sleeping?"

** "**You sle ep lang."

Rock rules then. The shuckle was saying I'd been unconscious for a while.

"Thank you for telling me," I said, trying to sound calm, "Do you know if I was with any pokemon? Were there any others near here that you hadn't seen?"

The shuckle looked confused. I tried rephrasing.

"You seen strange pokemon?"

The shuckle twisted its neck slightly. "Me own lee pok mon."

They were nowhere to be found then. My stomach ached as I thought of what could have happened. Someone could have stolen them. They weren't quite champion material, but they were strong. And Liza...I'd had to stop thieves from stealing her before, it would be hard for thieves to resist a rare pokemon whose trainer also happened to be unconscious.

No. If someone was planning to steal pokemon, they wouldn't have tried to take an entire team that knew how to fight together. At the very worst, they probably wouldn't have thought Mojito was worth stealing.

Maybe there was a problem at home, and my pokemon had decided to evacuate. The last time they'd decided I was safer elsewhere, when I'd woken up on Ricky's back as he was in the air, panicked, and carved a few more Ricky-related-scars into my arms by accident.

But they would have stayed with me. Or followed behind. I looked up at the sun, maybe hours two had passed since I had woken up. Not even Sole was that slow.

I fiddled with the sleeve of the my altaria pajamas. I usually kept them at home, since they were mostly white and showed dirt easily. They were the comfiest things I owned, so comfy I could even sleep with my trainer belt on.

Then it hit me. My hands raced to my sides, groping around my waist. I wasn't wearing my trainer belt.

I never went outside without my trainer belt.

_Ok, _I tried to think rationally, _I never get out of bed without putting on my belt. Did I ever get out of bed?_

I couldn't remember getting out of bed at all except to answer the phone for the

Chirper. That was when I stepped on Comet's tail and he had jumped awake in pain.

Oh no. _He had jumped up._

This wasn't. _While I was standing on his tail._

It was an accident. _He must have pulled it._

Did that mean I'd pulled it? Memories of warnings I'd received about training Comet began to creep back into my mind.

"_He's beautiful, but aren't you worried about being cursed?"_

_ "They're so finicky, I've heard they curse people who *pet* their tails wrong, no pulling involved."_

_ "You should just keep him in the vulpix stage. They're a lot less dangerous that way."_

Comet cursed me. He _cursed_ me. Tears welled in my eyes and I bent down, trying not to sob too loudly, and began to snivel and cry.

"You clawth pree," the shuckle said, almost cooing a bit.

I had no idea what that meant.

"Huh?" I sniffed between gasps.

"Clou. Sof. Nice." It moved to rest its head on top of my pjs.

"You like my pajamas?" I guessed, still mostly confused.

"Yees. Laik." it answered.

I almost choked on the inanity of that comment. I'd been cursed and I didn't know where any of my pokemon were, but _at least the local pokemon liked my fashion sense._

"You hav hung?"

I...did...did the shuckle think I'd tried to hang myself?

"No?" I ventured, completely and utterly baffled by the shuckle's question.

"Lai. You hung!" it exclaimed emphatically, bobbing its neck up and down. "You hung! You hung!"

I stared at the little rock monster, which seemed to be emphatically chanting either complete lies or complete nonsense, all the while shaking its head in what I was coming to realize was some sort of happy gesture.

After a few more seconds, the bouncing and chanting stopped, and the shuckle's head sank into its shell. A few moments later, its head reemerged with a bluk berry in its jaw. It placed the little fruit down in front of me, then exclaimed again, "You hung!"

Hungry. The shuckle thought I was hungry.

My stomach growled loudly as I looked at the little berry.

The shuckle was right.

I picked up the bluk berry and examined it carefully. It was a few days old, a tad withered, and maybe a bit too soft, but there was no mold and it was the most edible thing I'd seen all day. I wolfed it down in a single bite.

"Mo?" the shuckle inquired, raising its neck a bit as it asked.

"Yes please," I hung my head in shame. Even without my team on hand, I still found a way to depend on pokemon. The only difference was that this pokemon was wild, and I was depleting its food stores, which probably took it days to fill. "I'll make it up to you."

"No Nee!" the shuckle cried delightedly. It stuck its head back into its rock shell, and by the end it had pulled out five more bluk berries. I devoured all of them, and wiped the purplish juice from my mouth with the back of my hand.

With my stomach satiated, and my team's disappearance explained, I began to calm down. I just had to get back to my home. Even if the nearest town was miles away, all I really needed to do was find a road and wait by it until someone walked by and I could ask them to use their pokenav to send for an abracab. The journey to a road would undoubtedly hurt my bare feet, but I'd been through worse. I could do this.

The shuckle had been right, it did seem to be the only pokemon around. I couldn't even see taillow flying overhead looking for prey. The sky was mostly obscured by the branches of pine trees, though I could vaguely make out the other side of a valley to the West. Most of the roads in Hoenn were at the bottom of valleys, so West would be the best option. The shuckle craned its head to see what I was looking at.

"Go ooh?"

"Are you asking if I'm leaving?"

The shuckle bobbed its head.

"Son Naice," it muttered seemingly distracted.

I pondered over what that could mean. Either it had children which it was fond of and the sun reminded it of them, or it liked sunlight.

Meanwhile, the shuckle shuffled over to a bright patch on the ground and curled up with a smile on its face.

Definitely the second one.

I looked down at my bluk-stained hand. The shuckle probably didn't have much food left, and I was about to leave it behind without doing anything for it. Though as I watched it bask in the sunlight, an idea creeped into my mind.

"I could carry you with me, and take you to the bottom of the valley where the sunlight is stronger," I proposed, "You know, to thank you for feeding me."

The shuckle looked up at me with confusion.

"Wai thaynk?"

"You know, because you were so nice to me. I want to do something for you."

"Now neid, laik peypol, want halp," the shuckle's face was hard to read, I was starting to suspect that the species communicated emotion with neck gestures.

"Are you sure? It wouldn't be a problem, you're very small," I offered.

"Yuu now want stai?" The suckle lowered its head slowly, almost dejectedly.

"I can't," I replied, "I have to get home and take care of my pokemon. Like you took care of me."

The shuckle lowered its head even more, it seemed to be taking this personally. I tried to offer a compromise.

"Why don't I take you with me, and when I get an abracab, I'll ask it to take you back here before I go home. That way we can spend a little more time together."

The shuckle bobbed its head at this, "Can cowme?"

I laughed, "Of course you can, I just offered didn't I? Now put your legs back in your shell so I can pick you up."

The shuckle pulled its legs in and looked at me expectantly. I bent down and, with more difficulty than I'd expected, heaved the little pokemon up to carrying level before beginning my trek down the mountain.


End file.
